Review Wednesday: True Grit

Will True Grit Bring Out the Man in You? 

I know I’m a little late to the party on this one but I thought, in keeping with the cowboy theme, this would be a good movie for Fully Man to review. True Grit (a remake of the 1969 John Wayne original) is about two men (and a little girl) hunting down a band of thieves in the Wild West. This movie shows us a lot of good masculine themes and some great characters. Ultimately, I’m not sure it all comes together the way that it should by the end.

As the movie’s intro tells us Maddie Ross’ (Hailee Steinfeld) father is gunned down by “the coward Tom Cheney” (James Brolin). Thirsty for revenge Maddie hires Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Daniels). Rooster is known as the meanest marshal in the west. Maddie hires him because Rooster is most likely to shoot the man who shot her father. Along, the way they pick up the Texas Ranger LeBoeuf (Matt Damon) who is also after Cheney.

This movie is expertly acted, filmed, and scored. Damon and Daniels chew the scenery with their nuanced and powerful portrayals of lawmen who hunt other men for a living. However, neither of these men is without their demons. Daniels especially steals the show as Cogburn. Cogburn is a man who can stare fearlessly into the face of death but is keenly aware of his own self destructive nature. Steinfeld also does an excellent job portraying Maddie as a smart and headstrong girl who has a lot to learn about the world. 

The Cohen Brothers, as usual, do an excellent job in crafting a world this is, in equal portions, familiar and surreal (be sure to check out No Country for Old Men and Fargo). Despite all the excellent aspects of this movie things just never really come together at the end. This movie has very few crescendos staying mostly at the same pace throughout. In the end I couldn’t help but think “was that it?” Despite this minor criticism this is still an excellent movie with some excellent masculine themes.

Does This Movie “Man Up?”

Rooster Cogburn can teach us a lot about being men. Rooster is “real” man. By that I mean no one characteristic of his is blown out of proportion. He has his strengths but he also has his flaws. Rooster is the scourge the criminal world in the Wild West. His toughness and willingness to do anything to get the job done makes him the best. At the same time the things that make him a great lawman have led him down a self descructive path. Despite his reputation as a great lawman is rivaled by his reputation as a drunkard. This shows us the duality of masculinity, there are things that make us great but at the same time those same things make bring us woe. Coburn’s willingness to fully commit to everything he does, drinking included, is what make him a great lawman and a detriment to himself.

In the end Cogburn (and LeBoeuf as well) teaches us that everyman with noble characteristics will show his true stripes in times of duress. In the climax of the movie Cogburn shows us that despite his drunken and surly nature lives a man who is to be admired. Cogburn and LeBoeuf’s commitment to doing what is right is stronger than their individual flaws. Furthermore, this movie teaches us that we must sometimes look past a rough exterior to find a character worthy of emulation.

Rating

Most Quote Worthy Line

Lawyer: Mr. Cogburn how many men have you shot?

Cogburn: Shot or killed?

Lawyer: Let us keep it to “killed” so that we may have a manageable number.

Where have all the Cowboys Gone? Part 1

I hope that you’ll forgive me the Paula Cole reference but I thought it was appropriate given that we’re going to start our two part series about zeal and lack thereof among today’s Christian men.

What is Zeal?
The English word zeal comes from the Greek word “zelos” and means fervor for a person, cause, or object. This is a fine definition to get us started. But the question that must interest us is what is zeal in the Bible? I would argue that Zeal is the urge we get that makes us want to take action when we see things that are out of line with God’s created order. That urge can compel us to do great things for God. Zeal can manifest itself in several ways. Maybe you want to start a bible study, help the homeless, or speak out against oppression. When the desire to serve God wells up inside of you, becomes too great to ignore, and compels you to action that is zeal.

Examples of Zeal
The Old Testament is filled with lots of examples of men and women zealous to serve God. However, to my mind, Nehemiah is the one that stands out most. Nehemiah was a displaced Jew serving the king of Persia as a cupbearer (Nehemiah 1:11). However, once he heard that the city of Jerusalem, God’s holy city, was in disrepair he couldn’t abide sitting idly by and doing nothing (Neh 2:3-6). Eventually, Nehemiah completed his task of repairing Jerusalem and left the care of Jerusalem to others. However, when he came back to see that the caretakers were not properly worshiping God he was not afraid to bust up some furniture to get his point across (Neh 13:6-10)!

Of course, the most famous example of zeal comes from the book of John. Jesus, approaching the temple in Jerusalem, saw that God’s holy place had been turned into a market house. The temple had become a place where greed and goods were worshiped more readily than God. Jesus, being filled with zeal and righteous (i.e. appropriate) anger, began to overturn tables and dump money changers coins on the floor (John 2:13-17). Jesus’ zeal for God made such an impact on John that he even mentions it reminded him of Psalms 69:9.

Here is a pretty good reenactment of what it might have looked like

Nehemiah and Jesus had this in common when acting on their zeal. Neither could stand the idea of a world where God was not being glorified in the way that he ought. So great was their love for God that the idea of not doing something was to unbearable. Nehemiah risked punishment from his king and Jesus risked punishment from authorities both civil and religious. But they didn’t care. Sin had distorted the goodness of God’s creation and they did something about it.

Now that we know what zeal is and we’ve seen some examples of it. Come back next week when we discuss misguided zeal, lack of zeal, and how to get our zeal back.

Did you like this article? Is there something I missed? Do you have opinions? I would love to hear them? So, put them in the comments section.